The Cleveland Cavaliers still can’t find a way to beat the Boston Celtics, and one glaring issue is a big reason why.

The Cavaliers fell to the Celtics by a score of 120-117 in NBA Cup action on Tuesday night. They were down by as many as 21, and while they certainly made a run, they never managed to get over the hump.

One of the main culprits in the loss was Darius Garland, who scored just eight points on 3-for-21 shooting. It was an absolutely disastrous performance for Garland, who struggled to get past the Celtics’ perimeter defenders and try to finish over the top of Al Horford.

It was also a bit of deja vu.

Consider: Last year in the playoffs, Garland had a less-than-stellar performance against Boston, averaging 16.8 points per game while making just 40.2 percent of his shots and 30.6 percent of his three-point attempts.

Garland’s performance in the five-game losing streak was a major factor in many calling for Cleveland to trade the star guard during the offseason.

The 24-year-old also posted a paltry true-shooting percentage of 48.5 percent through three regular-season meetings with the C’s last year.

It’s clear that Garland is struggling against the Celtics, and it’s not just Garland: it’s the guards that employ Garland’s style of play. Just ask Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving, who was locked up by Boston security guards last June.

The Cavs have a small backcourt. We all know this, and it’s one of the main reasons why Cavaliers fans called for the team to add a bigger wing this summer. Brandon Ingram was briefly a good candidate. Jerami Grant also represented a possible option.

Naturally, Cleveland held firm and entered the 2024-2025 season with its roster intact, and it certainly seemed to pay off. After all, the Cavs had started 15-0 before ultimately falling to the defending champs.

But the Cavaliers will have to beat the Celtics to make a final run of their own. Boston proved Tuesday night that the Eastern Conference still runs through Beantown, no matter how impressive Cleveland has looked through the first month of the season. And remember, the C’s don’t even have Kristaps Porzingis yet.

The question is whether or not the Cavs can do that now that the 6-foot-2 Garland represents their clear No. 2 scorer.

Whether it’s Derrick White, Jrue Holiday or Jaylen Brown, the Celtics have answers for Garland up and down their roster. They showed it last May, and this week they showed it again.

Garland is a very good player and he can terrorize most teams in the NBA on any given night. But Boston is cut from a different cloth, and he found that out the hard way.

The good news is that the Cavaliers still have plenty of time to adjust. The trade deadline isn’t until February, and Cleveland remains a great baseball club regardless.

But the Cavs still have work to do, and whether they can beat the Celtics four times out of seven games on current form is questionable at best.